Sunday's joy not built to last

Enjoy Sunday's double-overtime win over the Miami Heat. It might just be the Celts' last big win for awhile.

TIM WEISBERG

Boston Celtics fans, enjoy Sunday's double-overtime win over the Miami Heat. It might just be the Celts' last big win for awhile.

The Celtics finally halted their six-game losing streak — the longest since Kevin Garnett joined the team in 2007 — with a huge 100-98 victory over the defending champion Heat. It was the type of win that could turn things around for the lackluster Celtics and get them back into the championship hunt.

But on the same day as their biggest win of the season, the Celtics also suffered a devastating loss, one that most definitely has ended their hopes for Banner 18 going up to the rafters this season. All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo is out for the remainder of the season, and quite possibly for much of next year as well, with a torn ACL.

And no Rondo means no title. It may even mean no playoffs.

"Pretty much where he goes, we go," captain Paul Pierce said after hearing about the injury.

Rondo was originally thought to have just hyper-extended his right knee in Friday night's loss to Atlanta, and tried to give it a go Sunday afternoon against the Heat. He felt discomfort prior to the game, however, and Celtics team physician Dr. Brian McKeon felt the knee and thought there might be a ligament injury. Rondo was sent to New England Baptist Hospital for an MRI, and by the second half of Sunday's game the Celtics had confirmed that Rondo had indeed suffered an MRI tear and would miss the rest of the season. He expected to undergo surgery, although no date has been announced.

The Celtics were barely hanging on to the eighth seed in the East, even with Rondo. Because of their lackadaisical play over the past few weeks, Rivers had openly stated that changes were coming, both in the shuffling of the lineup and possibly even via trade. It was rumored that Danny Ainge was already looking to make moves that might have included trading Rondo or Pierce in order to "re-set" the Celtics roster, but that he would at least attempt to make some minor moves in order to tweak, and hopefully ignite, the Celts' chemistry.

Instead, now, Ainge might be looking at a wholesale "blowing up" of what remains in the wake of Rondo's injury. Pierce and possibly even Kevin Garnett (who would have to waive his no-trade clause) could be sacrificed in order to secure pieces that could make the Celtics relevant in the future, because that's all the Celtics have now is the future. This roster was built with the hope that Boston's best player, Rondo, could extended the NBA life of their No. 2 and 3 players, who were both toying with retirement this past off-season and might not be around much longer anyway. Now, what's the point of keeping them around?

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Rondo was not only the NBA assists leader at 11. 1 per game, but he was the leader in points per game created off assists. The Celtics were averaging 24.3 points per game off Rondo dimes, just slightly below his career-high of 25.8 last season. Boston is only averaging 95.2 points per game this season, so between assisting on 24.3 of them and scoring 13.7 each night, Rondo had a hand in more than a third of the Celtics' points each game.

Boston has been able to win without Rondo in the past — they're 20-13 without him over the past four years, and they actually have a slightly higher winning percentage when he doesn't play. But they've also never had to go without him for a long period of time.

"It's definitely going to be tough. I mean, nobody can fill his shoes. That's what makes him great," said Courtney Lee, one of the guards who will be expected to pick up the slack without Rondo.

The Celtics might just play it safe and try to find a fill-in for Rondo while hoping to remain relevant in the East for this season. Whether it be an internal candidate or someone like Keyon Dooling coming out of retirement, another veteran free agent who hasn't played this year or someone else's unwanted player or waiver castoff, they can find a body. But can they find a floor general?

"We still like our chances in the Eastern Conference. We found we can play anybody with the team we put out there, even without Rondo," Pierce said. "I know guys have taken the lesser road because of the way our team is built, and now they may have to take on a bigger role. "» These guys haven't had a chance to really showcase what they can do."

When all is said and done, blowing it up might not be an option, simply because teams will know exactly why Boston is willing to trade their big-ticket talent and won't offer fair value in return. That means the Celtics will just have to keep plowing ahead, with the momentum of the win over Miami in their back pockets, and hope that Pierce and Garnett can stay healthy enough to get Boston into the postseason and then just hope for the best.

The coach certainly hasn't thrown in the towel "» yet.

"Well, you can write the obituary. I'm not," Rivers said after Sunday's win. "You can go ahead, but I'm not. We won (Sunday), and so the way I look at it is, we're going to stay in there. In my opinion, we're going nowhere."

Unfortunately, although it wasn't what he meant, Doc might be right than he realizes.

Without Rondo, the Celtics are going nowhere.

Tim Weisberg covers the Boston Celtics for The Standard-Times. Contact him at timweisberg@hotmail.com